The Reset Button 12/31/2012 - Year In, Year Out

Editor's Note: Click here, for an update on the status of Xbox Live's Cloud service.

Ah, Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2013 will be a great year for everyone, maybe even better then 2012 was. We've already covered the biggest gaming news of the year with the Resetti Awards, so consider some of these news stories to be some of the worst.

With the Holidays comes a time for everyone to slow down (I mean, seriously, how many times have I mentioned the Holidays week after week?), and while the news never sleeps, it can crawl to a snail's pace at this time of year.

Which is why this will be a more brief consensus of a recap in the "biggest" gaming news from this week as opposed to some other weeks that I've considered slow. Besides, I don't need to keep everyone from getting to their New Year's party, so let's get this ball dropping with the last Reset Button of 2012.

Dead Space 3 to recognize curse words with Kinect

Oh, shoot! Gosh dang it! What the heck? ...Oh, that's not how it works? Damn.

According to Video Games Uncovered, those jumpy times in Dead Space 3 where you'll shout out a possible swear can help you at times.

For gamers who will be using the Kinect with Dead Space 3, there might be times that you can accidentally let one slip that can be used to your advantage. Steve Papoutsis, executive producer of the game, said that the activation won't be a random word, but a specific word in regards to the scenario.

There are commands where you might be in a certain situation and you might yell a specific expletive and it might behave in a way that you want it to.

Yep, when one of the bigger stories is about cursing to make an action work to be rewarded in a game, you know it's a slow week in the news. I mean, the idea sounds like fun for those who plan on using the Kinect for Dead Space 3, but gosh darn it this week has been downright and doggone slow. Geez Louise. Holy cow.

Xbox Live Cloud storage facing technical issues

If you had a cloud, it may have died within a Microsoft sunset.

Ryan Conway reports that access to any and every Cloud service is experiencing technical issues on the Xbox 360 and Xbox.com.

Right now, apps are available to users in the Cloud, but game saves and all other services in the Cloud system are being evaluated and fixed. Microsoft apologized to anyone who may be experiencing some major or minor inconveniences with the technical difficulties ongoing in the recovery process.

As someone who has not used the Cloud system for anything at all, I can't attest to how difficult this must be for others. Although I'm, sure that this is clearly frustrating to some, if not most, I feel as if there's some more trust to be had with physical save systems as opposed to something like the Cloud.

Maybe once everything is all settled in Microsoft's mini-Heaven, I'll give it a shot. For now, I couldn't even if I wanted to.

Refurbished 3DS for five-year-old contains pornography

Since we're not really allowed to show porn on ScrewAttack, here's a picture of a 3DS.

NBC affiliate 9News, based in Denver, Colo., reports about a Lakewood dad complaining to a local GameStop that had sold him a Nintendo 3DS that had pre-existing pornography on it. The kicker? This was his five-year-old son's 3DS.

How the father found out about the porn was from his oldest son after the five-year-old had told his big brother to help him "get rid of some pictures" he didn't take. There were nine pictures on the handheld that were described as "graphic" in nature. In an official release, GameStop said the following:

"[We are] currently researching this situation. We have a rigorous quality control process in place to ensure that existing content is removed from all devices before they are re-sold. Out of millions of transactions each year, ones like this happen very rarely. Our number one priority is to make this right for our customer."

Clearly, there need to be some repercussions within the store that sold the 3DS in question, as this is most likely unacceptable for GameStop and its public image. It is unknown if there were actions taken as of late, but one can expect to understand once there are.

Neo Geo X Gold released; not much attention given

If you know what this is, the chances are pretty high that you already own one.

According to Game Nacho, a handheld called the Neo Geo X Gold was released a couple of weeks ago. Only now are we paying attention to its presence because we just possibly discovered it.

The Neo Geo X Gold was apparently released on December 18 and is a handheld release of the Neo Geo's classic games. As shown above, it features a D-Pad that looks like a joystick to somewhat replicate the feel of the Neo Geo arcades.

First, why wasn't this given a bit more attention? Second, why now? Lastly, if a tree falls in the woods, does it make a noise? To answer my own questions: It's Neo Geo, why not, and no. What do you guys make of this, anything?

I don't think so. Looks cool, but possibly irrelevant with little to no advertisement of the product for anyone to really take notice.

Kotaku reports that Sony has finally ended their hardware production on the PlayStation 2, and have shipped the final shipments to Japanese retailers. The console lived for about 13 years.

The console was released on March 4, 2000, and sold over 150 million units worldwide. The cease production comes at a time where a new console could possibly be on the horizon for the eighth-generation of gaming.

While not surprising in the slightest, I am a bit sad to hear about the end of a long, strong era that ended a while ago in both Europe, Australia, and North America. Importers, I assume, will now try to complete their collection on PS2 games and game accessories. I'm not entirely sure if most will or not, but I'm just assuming.

As I said earlier, I hope everyone has a Happy New Year and stays safe during and after the party. See ya in 2013!

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